Broccoli-Millet Croquettes

Okay, this was easily the most time consuming recipe yet (although having only gone through 5 I can't say yet where this will stack up in the end, but I sure hope it remains one of the most time consuming).

I was supposed to prepare the broccoli/millet combo the day before, as the recipe suggests. However, I forgot. Ask my husband if that's a surprise. Anyway, he offered to do this step for me. He started at about 530. I got home from work at 545 and then took over for him, thinking dinner would be ready by 730 at the latest. Woops.

I think with the exception of about 15 - 20 minutes I was active from 545 until, yes, about 810. That's over 2 1/2 hours from start to finish. Looking back, I can't understand why it took so long, but I digress.

One tip: The cooling step really is important. I actually did follow the instructions and let it cool for 45 minutes...even stirring often, but it probably needed another 1o to 15 minutes, so about an hour would suffice. If the mix is made a day ahead of time then no worries.

The patties were a bit unruly and didn't hold together well. It wasn't a total disaster, but several of them folded or lost some pieces. I actually added about 1/3 cup of breadcrumbs to the "batter" as it seemed a bit wet still. I don't know if that made things worse or if they would have been worse had I not done it.

Anyway, the rolling of the balls and frying of 3 batches added to the time, so if you can use a bigger frying device, then you'll save some time.

As for the sauce, I made one of the recommended sauces, the white bean aioli. One word comes to mind. Garlic city. Okay, that was two words. They said to use six cloves. I used 3, although they were rather large. Let's just say our throats were irritated for a long time afterwards, and I had the same problem today eating it for lunch.

Taste-wise, the croquettes were delicious. A little crispy on the outside and creamy/grainy on the inside. They reminded me of latkes, which I used to thoroughly enjoy back when I dated a Jewish guy who had a great cook for a mom.

The aioli was basically like Hummus (really garlicky hummus, and why is there a k in garlicky?) without the tahini. It was tasty, although to be honest, I think I'd be just as happy with a nice nayonnaise with some garlic mixed in. Sure, it's probably not as "pure" and doesn't have the protein the beans do, but I'll admit it, I can be lazy at times. Haven't I already admitted that?

So while it was a dish we would be happy to eat again, I'm not sure if I'll be motivated to make it again anytime soon. Fortunately, I have a whole cookbook ahead of me so I don't have to worry about it for a while.

This is on page 51 in Veganomicon. And sorry, I forgot to take a picture this time.